SARAH VINE: Taking away the Sussexes’ titles is the only way to put a stop to their nonsense. What has King Charles got to lose?

Okay, I take it all back. After the King’s cancer diagnosis last week, I had naively hoped that such a serious health crisis might bring Prince Harry to his senses – or at least bring him to his senses.

I thought it would make him realize the importance of family; perhaps see what pressure the king has been under in recent years; Perhaps you feel a pang of sympathy for the old man.

But after the Duke and Duchess’s latest move – rebranding their Archewell website as Sussex.com, complete with crest – I’m giving up. I’m afraid they can’t be saved anymore.

No wonder Prince William is said to have refused to see his brother during his flying visit to Britain last week; no wonder he only had about half an hour with King Charles.

They must have known this was in the pipeline. They must have known that this was Harry’s next step in his quest to have his cake and eat it too.

Because it seems to me that this is not only a blatant name-stealing and an attempt to commercialize the title bestowed upon them by the late Queen after Meghan married into the Royal Family, it also goes against her express wishes.

When the Duke and Duchess made the sad decision to turn their backs on royal life in 2020, they agreed they would not use their titles for financial or personal gain.

For that reason, they had to shut down their website, sussexroyal.com.

And yet here they are, clearly indicating their association with the institution of monarchy to promote themselves and their organization on the world stage. An institution, let us not forget, that they both thoroughly destroyed, trampled and dragged through the mud; an institution they seem to despise (witness their dalliance with prominent Republicans in Jamaica last month), an institution they claim they want nothing to do with – and yet cannot seem to be sufficiently exploited.

I mean, Harry’s always been a little brat, but this really takes the cake.

Once again I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when he fled to Britain to visit his poor dad. But now I can’t help but agree with those who said it just seemed like a publicity stunt, a handy way to remind the world in advance of this new rebrand that he is a member of the British Royal Family.

Honestly, can the boy sink any deeper?

The homepage of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s website uses their coat of arms and title

SARAH VINE: Sussex is emphatically not their family name. That’s Mountbatten-Windsor, as evidenced by Archie’s birth certificate

His ‘people’ have of course struck back. A source close to the couple said: ‘Prince Harry and Meghan are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. That’s a fact. It’s their last name and family name.’ That, like so much that comes out of their camp, is palpable nonsense.

Sussex is emphatically not their family name. That’s Mountbatten-Windsor, as evidenced by Archie’s birth certificate. And in any case, Sussex is not a name: it is a royal title, bestowed by the late Queen. (Archie himself has, among other things, a courtesy title – Dumbarton – which his parents apparently decided not to use in case he is called “stupid” at school.)

If they really wanted to get rid of their miserable lives as royals, if they really wanted to leave all their so-called “trauma” behind them and start over, they would simply call themselves “Mr. and Mrs. Windsor-Mountbatten” and be done with it. with it. But of course they won’t do that because that would impact their currency as royals. Hence the name of the new website.

The only way this source could be right in claiming that Sussex is their surname is if they had decided to change their surname on deed search from Windsor-Mountbatten to Sussex. Which, I guess, would be theoretically possible. But also incredibly, astonishingly, almost unbelievably rude, even by their standards.

It could also land them in hot water: there is an argument that the misuse of Sussex, as a royal title, could potentially breach the Companies Act.

It is also interesting that the crest the couple chose for the website is not Harry’s, but Meghan’s, which was bestowed upon her by the late Queen.

Since she was part of the royal family for about five minutes and claims to have been so deeply miserable, you might wonder why she would want to cling to such a clear reminder of her hardships.

In any case, it is outdated: it still shows the crown of the Sovereign’s grandchild, rather than the son, since Charles is now king.

But I don’t think questions of heraldic authenticity matter much to Harry and Meghan. They don’t seem to care that the British Royal Family is a beloved institution, an important part of our national culture; to them it’s just a cash cow.

And the truth is, they need that brand for the simple reason that they have nothing else. Sure, Prince Harry’s book Spare may have been, as the website claims, a bestseller, but that was only because it poked fun at the royal family.

Everything the couple try to do, regardless of their royal status, fails, as evidenced by the lukewarm reception of the Duchess’s podcasts, her gloomy children’s book – and Spotify’s dropping them from their £18 million deal.

What did a Spotify executive call them? ‘Grifters’. Those businessmen don’t normally break cover like that unless things are really bad.

The terrible truth now confronting the Duke and Duchess is that their main currency – their glittering royal status – is an increasingly diminishing asset. And they have unwisely squandered it through their persistent and vicious attacks on the very institution that gives them any cachet.

Without that, let’s face it, Prince Harry is just a balding, not very bright ex-soldier with daddy issues; Meghan is just a reasonably beautiful, clearly mediocre ex-actress, also with daddy issues.

No wonder they are so desperate to maintain that association.

After all, it’s not like they made the biggest splash across “the pond,” despite all those celebrities at their wedding and that interview with Queen Oprah early on.

Their Hollywood contacts seem to have melted away like ice in the California sun. They didn’t even make it to Sunday night’s Super Bowl, which featured every power player in that world.

The reality is that this latest move smacks of absolute desperation. Harry and Meghan had every opportunity to build a real identity for themselves outside the royal sphere. But that would require hard work and dedication – and earning, rather than demanding, the respect of others.

Instead, they took the easy route, without caring who they hurt or what damage they caused along the way.

In doing so, they made the last years of the Queen’s life a misery, and have since inflicted untold psychological suffering on everyone else in their family. Meanwhile, of course, they claim to be staunch and compassionate advocates for mental well-being.

I’m sure that if the late Queen Elizabeth II had realized they were going to pull a stunt like this, she would have taken away their Sussex titles and stripped them of the right to call themselves HRH. As much as it might have hurt her, she was never shy about doing the right thing. And if there was one thing she took very seriously, it was the reputation of the institution to which she had devoted her entire life.

This is the last thing the king needs as he is being treated for cancer. But divesting their titles to Harry and Meghan is the only way to put an end to their nonsense.

And what does he have to lose anyway?

A toxic son who seems to care so little that he seemed to voice little public objection to being labeled a racist? Come on, no one needs that in their life.